Is it possible to prepare for life's challenges?

Are we able to do something today to prepare ourselves for what may happen tomorrow?

This topic came to mind based off of my conversation with the guest that appeared in the previous episode, episode 95, and that was Shawnee Whitaker, who, as a teenager, had a car accident that would end up leaving him an amputee.

But while I was preparing to record this episode, I then had another inspiration hit.

And that came from a YouTube channel that I have been following for a few years now.

And it's called The Smith.

And The Smith follows country music artist Granger Smith along with his wife Amber and their children.

So it's kind of a YouTube channel about their family, about their journey, and then a little bit about Granger Smith and him touring as a country artist.

But the reason that I say that it inspired me for this topic is that when I started following their YouTube channel was when they encountered probably the lowest point of their lives.

And that was the loss of their child, River, who passed away in a drowning accident in their family's swimming pool.

I, though, have been so inspired by this family, by following them since and seeing how they have overcome such a tremendous loss.

And even though they have grieved and their hearts still break, they're doing such amazing things with the gifts that their Sun River gave them.

They have a nonprofit organization.

They're helping to raise awareness for children on swimming accidents.

And the biggest thing is that they keep the memory of their Sun River alive.

They actually use a hashtag.

It's hashtag live like rive.

And them and their children, they keep that close to heart.

And so these two stories, two totally different stories, yet both involve loss.

And I've come to realize in my life, when people have said to me, when they learn of my story about losing my ability to see.

And people tend to compare losses to one another.

But I remind people that one loss is no greater than any other.

They're both a loss.

This family, they lost their son.

Now, yeah, you could compare the two and you could say one is worse than the other.

But it doesn't work like that.

Because everything is big to that person.

And so when I had people ask me after going blind, doesn't it irritate you when people complain about the things they're going through when you know you've just had something like this happen to you?

And I responded with just what I just said.

No, it doesn't, because everyone's problems are big to them.

And what I've gone through doesn't make what they've gone through any less significant.

And so coming back to the topic, is there a way that we could possibly prepare ourselves to be able to handle these situations better?

Because in these two situations, I'll be honest, I look at these two people, Shawnee and then the family The Smiths on YouTube.

And I'm admired by the way that they have handled it and that they've been able to keep going and continue to thrive in life despite the challenges they have faced.

And so let's dive into the subject a little bit more.

Is it possible for us to prepare for life's challenges, for life's tragedies?

Well, to be honest, I think the answer is to a degree.

And I say this because I don't think that there's anything that any of us can truly do to prepare us emotionally for the toll of experiencing a loss.

Whether that loss comes in the form of some type of accident, enduring some type of life-changing disability, or if that loss is the loss of a loved one.

But I do feel as though there are some things that we can do and that we can work on putting in place that can at least help us, give us a little boost.

Because isn't that the truth in life?

Is that a lot of times, no matter what it is in life that we're dealing with, that we're trying to overcome, there's not anything that anybody can do to help us jump that hurdle.

But what they can do is give us a little boost, a boost of encouragement, a boost in helping us, lending a hand.

And so I feel as though the tips that I have for you today are that boost.

And it goes back to a topic that I have given speeches on, and I've even done a podcast episode about back towards the beginning of this podcast, where I talk about creating your life's equation.

Now, in that life's equation, which for a little bit of context, when I became blind, I created an equation.

This was an equation for me to keep going.

And the equation was faith plus family equals a life worth living.

And so for myself, at the lowest points when I felt like giving up because I hated this world, this world of darkness that I was plunged into.

The way that I kept going was my base.

That was my faith and my family.

Those two things gave me a reason to keep going, to keep living.

They were the reason that I wanted to live.

And they were the reason how I kept living.

And so when talking about is it possible for us to prepare for tragedy, I believe it goes back to this equation.

And it's the base that makes up that equation.

It's nailing down what it is that we have to live for.

That when we have hope in nothing else, what is this?

For myself, my faith is huge for me.

And so, to be honest, there's nothing in my life that happens that doesn't involve my faith as my base.

Because no matter what I'm going through, the best days, the worst of days, I have my faith to hold me strong.

Now, I'll also say that I've been fortunate that I've had a family, a family that has been there with me through the worst of days, through the darkest of nights, as well as the best of times as well.

And I've been able to lean on them, cry with them, and they've walked every step of this journey with me.

Now, I don't know your situation.

I have no idea if you have a relationship with your creator or not.

Same is true for your family.

But I guarantee that there's something you have.

There's something that at the end of the day, you can count on this one thing to always be there for you.

I would recommend that you figure out what that is.

If you don't know it right now, that's okay.

Spend some time, though, to figure it out.

Because there is one thing that is guaranteed in this life, and that is that we will face challenges.

We will all face our own adversity because God did not promise that we would not have challenges in this life.

Matter of fact, he tells us that in this life, we will have challenges.

And so I'm here to tell you that if you've been lucky enough that you've not had to endure any challenges in your life so far, well, first and foremost, I'm so grateful for that.

But at the same time, don't feel as though you're exempt.

Instead, use this as an opportunity to start building your foundation, to start putting together that equation to live by.

And so whether it's a disability, it's the loss of a loved one, a piece of you is going to be ripped away at some point in time.

That's just, it's just a fact of life.

But I want you to at least have a foundation that you can lean on when that happens to help you get through those dark days, those sleepless nights.

And for you to have hope in the realization that as time goes by, it will get easier and life will go on and you will smile again.

The sun will come out behind the clouds and life will be happy again.

But until that happens, I want you to have your base to lean on, to give you support.

So that's it for today's episode.

Is that simple little equation that I created over 18 years ago when I was plunged into a world of darkness?

And I was trying to figure out how to keep going.

And I went back to algebra class and I created my equation of faith plus family equals a life worth living.

I encourage you to do a little bit of homework and create your own equation for what's going to hold you strong, keep you moving forward in life when it seems like the world has fallen apart.

I hope that you've enjoyed today's quick little episode.

If you've heard something that I've said that has made an impact, please share it with a friend.

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Until next episode, I hope that your life is full of blessings.

And please just remember, if today's not a good day, if things are going wrong in life, just realize that it won't stay like this forever.

That there's a plan for you, there's a plan for your life, and that the challenges that you're enduring today, I promise they're not for nothing.

They're for a reason.

And I believe a good reason at that